Former Masters champion Sergio Garcia admitted he was "not super-proud" after hammering the turf on the second tee before whacking a nearby cooler box and snapping the head off his driver.
The 2017 winner was subsequently visited on the fourth tee by Geoff Yang, chairman of the competition committee, and was understood to have been given a code of conduct warning.
A second warning would have resulted in a two-shot penalty, a third would have meant disqualification.
"Just obviously not super-proud of it, but sometimes it happens," said Garcia, who shot a round of 75 to finish the tournament at eight over par.
Asked what was said on the fourth hole, the tetchy Spaniard added: "I'm not going to tell you. Next question, please."
However, not having the use of the driver made the decision-making process simple, with Garcia saying: "It makes it very easy. I just have to hit three-wood all the time. I didn’t have to choose another club."
Garcia’s record since winning nine years ago is surprisingly poor, having missed six cuts and finished 23rd before this week, where he is likely to finish in the bottom 10 of players who made the weekend.
He added: "Bad golf. Bad shots. If you don’t hit good shots, you’re not going to score well here. It’s very simple. Unfortunately a lot of bad shots."
